1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coaxial couplers, and more specifically thin coaxial jacks that can be retractably mounted on a PC card or other electrical apparatus.
2. Present State of the Art
Electrical apparatus, such as personal computers and personal information managers (PIMs), are becoming increasingly dependent upon their ability to electrically communicate or share information with other electrical apparatus. To facilitate this communication, many electrical apparatus have been developed with slots for receiving different PC cards. PC cards are small relatively thin cards which house desired electronics for performing functions such as modem operation, extended memory, communicating with network systems, or communicating with cellular telephones. PC cards are required to have a defined form factor or size configuration so as to fit within the designed slot.
Various types of couplers have been developed for electrically connecting an outside electrical line, such as a telephone line or network cable, to a PC card. In one type of coupler, a thin socket is formed on the side of the PC card. The socket is configured to electrically couple with a pin connector commonly referred to as a PC card connector.
One specific type of cable that is used to effect electrical communication between electrical apparatus is coaxial cable. Although coaxial cable comes in different designs, each coaxial cable includes a center conductive cable over which a signal is transferred. A flexible tubular insulator made of a dielectric or non-conductive material encircles the conductive cable. In turn, a flexible conductive sleeve, often in a form of a wire mesh, encircles the insulator. The conductive sleeve functions as a shield or ground to help maintain the integrity of signal in the center conductive cable. Finally, the conductive sleeve is coated with a durable insultative sheath.
Coaxial cables are well integrated and used extensively in many network systems throughout the world. Some of the benefits of coaxial cable are that it is simple, relatively inexpensive, and has standardized couplers for connecting the cable with electrical apparatus. The coupler includes a coaxial connector such as a bayonet connector or BNC which is connected to a corresponding jack. A conventional coaxial connector has a relatively large tubular structure while the jack includes a tubular plug which interlocks with the connector by a type of threaded engagement.
One of the drawbacks to using coaxial cable is that many of the standardized coaxial jacks have a relatively large diameter that is greater than the thickness of most PC cards. As a result, conventional coaxial jacks cannot be mounted on or within a PC card without compromising the standard size restrictions. As a result, various types of adapter have been developed which enable coupling between a coaxial connector and a conventional pin socket formed on PC cards. The required use of such adapters, however, increases cost and complicates the connection. Furthermore, such adapters are often lost or misplaced.